What Did I Learn from These Assessments?

As a current instructional leader and future administrator, I would have to say that the fact that I believe that it is imperative that we provide our students with the learning opportunities to not only develop technology skills but also to use technology to apply learning, evaluate and create is my greatest strength as a future technology leader. I am comfortable with technology for the most part, but I am not always up to date with the latest technology trends. As a future administrator, I would have to ensure that I actively continue my technology development in order to set the example for my teachers. I cannot expect my teachers to do what I am not doing.

After reflecting on the two technology skills assessments that I completed, I have to admit that I was not surprised at all by what the results showed. The first assessment, the Technology Applications Inventory, showed that I was proficient in my technology skills. The area that I seemed to lack confidence was in the “solving problems” section. The second assessment, SETDA, revealed some useful information. Because I am no longer a classroom teacher, I completed the building survey. It was quite obvious after completing this survey that we have room to grow in terms of technology on our campus. We do have a specific district technology plan in place with specific requirements at each grade level. The majority of this learning takes place in the Computer Lab. Unfortunately, our students are not always given the opportunity to develop and apply this new technology learning in the classroom. The majority of our students spend 1-2 hours on the computer per week, but most if this time is used for drill and practice tutorial software. Our students and teachers do have access to the latest technology, but we do not always take the time to integrate these technologies into our teaching. We are an elementary campus, and therefore, the majority of our teachers do not use technology to present instruction. Sometimes, they do incorporate the Smart board, videos from United Streaming or YouTube, but not daily. We do not assess students’ technology proficiency. This may be something that we should consider.

Our district is taking a new approach with technology professional development. At the beginning of the school year, we completed a technology assessment to determine our technology level. In previous years, we had on-site monthly technology professional development, but this year, our technology professional development is differentiated based on our technology level. I think that this is a step in the right direction. This provides us all with the opportunity to increase and build upon our current technology knowledge and skills.